Welcometo the
TICE Team

"As founder of This is Creative Enterprise (TICE), my organisation is intended to fulfill the ambition of creating an entrepreneurial venture, designing projects and programmes whereby young people and schools can explore opportunities in commercial creative, design and digital industries.

Since 2008, myself and my increasing team have focused our efforts on enabling young creatives the chance for self-reflection, to think about the world and their place in it, but also allowing the time and the opportunity to do so.

With TICE, I strive towards creating a flexible and exciting environment of nurturing creative career development. I consider myself very lucky to have watched and continue to watch talented young creatives gain confidence and grasp a hold of their own personal responsibility in relation to career aspirations. They have gone on to do some incredible things.

I believe wholeheartedly in proactiveness, admire an entrepreneurial spirit and love watching people succeed. Genuinely, it makes me smile."

Jennifer Barrett

TICE Founder & Fashion Mentor

Who we are...

With a collective experience in the creative, design and digital industries the TICE Team have vast and broad range of skills, knowledge and networks that directly impact the provision and delivery we provide.

TICE Mentors are creative entrepreneurs; practising designers, musicians, animators and artists and more, actively engaged in creative industry and creative educational work. With TICE, young people involved in our work are able to take full advantage of the strong industry networks and industry knowledge but also get to know the highs and lows of working in the creative sector.

All TICE mentors have Enhanced DBS Clearance.

MEET THE TEAM

CHARLOTTE LIDDLE
TEXTILES & CRAFT MENTOR

Charlotte Liddle is a textile designer, sewing teacher and author of several sewing & crafting books. Her previous clients include the likes of Coats Crafts, John Lewis and P&O cruises ships. Charlotte is the founder of Pimm’s & Needles, an independent non-profit ladies’ group, running sewing workshops in Hurworth, Darlington and Newton Aycliffe.

Chloe has worked as a freelance animator and model maker since graduating from UCA Farnham in 2010. As a specialist in After Effects animation and stop motion techniques, she works in a variety of digital and traditional methods to create short films. Chloe is also an Associate Lecturer in Animation at Northumbria University.

“I love working with TICE to show children how fun and varied working in a creative job is, especially as the animations industry expands. It is such a great opportunity for young people to gain insights from creative professionals at the stage when they are thinking about that they might like to do in the future. When I was at school I started experimenting with animation but hadn't really thought further ahead as to what that might look like as a job role until I was leaving university - I'd have been so interested to hear from local creative professionals at an earlier stage. From my perspective, it's great to hear what sort of animations the students are engaging with now, as that is what is going to shape the industry of tomorrow.”

Helen has worked as a freelancer for 16 years, having illustrated over 40 children’s books with top publishers including Bloomsbury, Orchard Books, Egmont and Scholastic. She is also a lecturer at Newcastle College and co-owner of greetings card company, Rosie & Radish.

"The best part of being a TICE mentor is getting to meet and work with students who have yet to discover the wonderful and crazy world of illustration. Often students know they like to draw but it is fantastic to see their faces light up when they realise the creative opportunities that exist in illustration and how it can become a viable career path. I really enjoy the journey the students go on throughout the TICE programme - the awareness and confidence it instils in them. There is something very special about seeing the students produce art that they are proud of and recognising the commercial value in them too. I had a lot of informal 'mentors' that have helped me along the way with my illustration career and I hope that I can offer that same support to the TICE students."

As well as the founder of TICE, Jennifer has worked in the fashion industry for over 20 years building award-winning fashion brands, selling and manufacturing internationally. Jen is also a lecturer in BA (Hons) Fashion Communication at Northumbria University specialising in professional practice, entrepreneurship and trend. In addition, she has a voluntary role as Enterprise Adviser – working in partnership with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership currently working with Newminster Middle School.

“I can quite honestly say, I love my job. Maybe because I created it, but it absolutely brings me a sense of joy yet also accomplishment. I enjoy so many things, creativity seems to capture most of it but with particular nod to the fashion industry delving into consumer behaviour, the psychology of trend and, of course, beautiful craftmanship and design. With TICE, I am lucky enough to share everything I enjoy with young people and more, share experiences and opportunities and watch young people discover new and exciting things. It been a very rewarding experience creating TICE and I am very excited to see how it evolves."

Jennine is a freelance photographer with a MA Photography from The University of Sunderland. Jennine demonstrates more of a conceptual approach to photography and image making, being particularly interested in portraiture and narrative within constructed image making. Her portfolio showcases a refreshing and unique method of storytelling through minimalist, abstract images. Jennine also has previous lecturing experience at Newcastle College.

“We are all Photographers’ and we are living in the ‘age of the Image’. Images increasingly surround us and our ability to share photographs within seconds has had a profound effect on the way we see and respond to the world around us.
Becoming a mentor at TICE has enriched my life on a personal and professional level. I get to hear such fresh perspectives from young minds on photography, technology, and communication. I feel that TICE is such an empowering and creative journey for everyone involved: students, teachers, mentors, and industry professionals. It is a pleasure to be a part of facilitating the creative exploration, technical know-how, and industry insight, which investigates our complex and changing relationship with photography and the world.”

Katherine is the founder Haydn Grey, a copywriting agency specialising in tone of voice development and brand guidelines. Kath is also an Associate Lecturer in BA (Hons) Fashion Communication at Northumbria University, working with the lecturing team there to support first, second and third-year students with editorial communications, PR, marketing, trend forecasting, journalism and social media.

“I enjoy working with TICE because bridging the gap between school and work is such a lot of fun – and I learn so much from the students each year. I wish I’d had something like TICE when I was at school to show me what the creative industries look and feel like from the inside. TICE brings students into contact with a range of industries and jobs that they may not even know exist. I didn’t know copywriting was a career until I’d been doing it, albeit for friends and unpaid, for a couple of years. Now I earn my living from doing it. Proof that you can make a career out of doing something you love, really, you can.”

Lee follows a career spanning 20 years within retail, sales, marketing and entrepreneurship. At aged 22, she started her first business Amanda Lee Lingerie & Swimwear after recognising a gap in the market for specialist products for ladies who had undergone breast surgery and won several industry awards including Drapers Record, North East Business, Shell Livewire & HSBC. Since then, Lee is now the founder of Pebble Blue Communications which supports local businesses with their social media activity alongside their existing traditional marketing methods.

Mark works as Global Senior Graphic Designer at Tommee Tippee. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, his previous clients include British Airways, Hugo Boss, Barclays Bank, UPS, Levis, Mastercard, Virgin Atlantic, Pantene and Nestle, just to name a few.

“Being a TICE mentor allows me to bring education and industry closer together. Allowing students to meet and chat with industry professional designers is a great opportunity for students to experience what it is like in the ‘real world’ of Graphic Design. As I always tell my students at the end of every workshop, “love what you do” and embrace the 3 P’s mindset in everything you do...passion, passion and more passion.”

Megan is creative freelancer based in the North East, primarily working in the music industry as a teacher, choir leader, songwriter and performer. Her current project is contemporary vocal trio, Luna Blu. She is also a Digital Content Creator and has worked with schools, local organisations and creative freelancers to run their social media and create content through blogs, film and photography.

“I completed the TICE Programme 10 years ago and I can guarantee that my willingness to learn, create and inspire has only increased since being involved. If I weren’t exposed to the music industry at such a young age, I would have little to no understanding of my potential to succeed in the creative industries. I realised my potential and I decided what I wanted my future to look like and I’m still doing that now. It’s exciting to have complete control of that vision. At TICE, we are allowing young people to do exactly that - decide their own future. I couldn’t be more thrilled to part-take in encouraging that ideology.”

Phil is a freelance software developer, having worked for several different startup companies since moving to the North East. He is now the founder of Electro Cat Studios, a Raspberry Pi based weekly curated list of electronics projects and tutorials from around the web. He also builds games, his first game released for Android and Window8 in 2013 with a sequel in the works at the moment.

“TICE is an important programme to help students get exposure to exciting and diverse areas of creative industries. Opportunities that they might not have known about otherwise. I am particularly excited to help people get into the software industry partly because it is a fun and interesting industry but also because there is a skills gap in the area and as such a great opportunity for students to move into rewarding careers which can offer broad opportunities for working abroad or nationally.”

Sam is a songwriter, producer, composer and educator. He has worked on a number of projects and worked with record labels and publishers such as Universal Music Publishing and BMG. Much of his work has been featured on TV, radio, computer games, adverts, animations and short films worldwide. Additionally, Sam composes film trailer music under the name Frontier 35 and writes for the music production specialist website, Sample Library Review.

“I am involved with TICE because I feel there is a huge amount of mystery and uncertainty between jamming in the bedroom to working at a professional level, which often deters young people from considering it as a serious career option. TICE Music helps bridge this gap. I have found, during the past 10 years of the programme, that the particular type of student TICE attracts are by far the most talented and rewarding young people I get to work with. I am now getting to see young people I worked with at age 14 mature and have real success with music into adulthood, which is hugely rewarding and long may it continue.”

Join us in delivering exciting, industry-led workshops and programmes for young people. If you are experienced and excited by mentoring young people, professional and appraochable, passionate about your creative industry; we want to hear from you. Send us your CV and portfolio to Link to an email address: hello@tice-uk.com